CHAPTER XXVII.

Rev. William Rintoul, M.A.—Sketch Op His Career His Illness And Death—Rev. Dr. Burns' Trieute To His Memory—Rev. William Reid, D.D. Of Toronto—Rev. George Smellie, D.D., Of FERGUS Rev. DAVID INGLIS, D.D., LL.D.—His Work In Montreal—His Sursequent Career.

The Rev. William Rintoul, M.A., was born at Kincardine. Perthshire, Scotland, on the 30th of October, 1191. He studied at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and took the degree of M.A., at the former. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Dunblane, in 1821, as minister of the Presbyterian Church at Maryport, Cumberland, England. But he was deeply imbued with the missionary spirit all through life, and his thoughts travelled beyond the seas. His sympathies followed his co-religionists who were then in large numbers seeking homes in the distant colonies, and he wrote a pamphlet on the "claims of the colonists on the churches at home." In 1831, he was appointed by the Glasgow Colonial Society to the charge of St. Andrew's Church, Toronto, of which he was the first minister. He arrived in Canada just in time to take part in the formation of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland. In 1834 he was translated to Streetsville; but so public-spirited did he commend himself to his brethren, and so clear-headed an organizer and man of affairs generally, that he was the same year appointed missionary and corresponding secretary to the Synod. It was intended that he should resign his charge

and devote his entire energies to this work; but he did not see his way to leaving Streetsville so soon after his settlement there; and so the Synod had to be satisfied with such efforts in the way of promoting church extension as he could put forth in conjunction with the duties of his pastoral charge. We find the Synod in 1835 “ expressing the high sense which that Reverend court entertained of Mr. Rintoul's diligence in fulfilling the duties of his office during the past year." It shows how eminent the services were which he had already in five years rendered to the church in this country, that in 1836 he was placed in the Moderator's chair of the Supreme Court, the highest honour which the church had in its keeping. When it was resolved to establish Queen's College at Kingston, with a view especially to training candidates for the ministry, Mr. Rintoul, with Dr. Cook of Quebec, was selected for the task of visiting the churches of Great Britain and Ireland, for the purpose of helping to raise the necessary funds to equip the Institution. This was a kind of work for which he had a special aptitude, as his mind was at once nimble and vigorous. In 1844, he chose to cast in his lot with the Free Church sympathizers, and this step involved him in herculean labours in order to extend the organization of the newly formed church throughout the entire country. He was appointed Clerk to the new Synod when it was constituted in 1844, and he performed the duties of the office efficiently until he resigned in 1851. Subsequent history tells how remarkable was the success which followed the efforts of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. Its ministers and missionaries were everywhere; and Mr. Rintoul bore no small share in the plans and labours by which these remarkable results were achieved. Like Mr. Esson and Mr. Leishman, he was a man of ripe scholarship; and so when Knox College was organized, he was appointed to the

Chair of Hebrew and Biblical Criticism in that Institution. In consequence of a change in the arrangements in University College, by which a Professor of Hebrew was added to the staff, the authorities of Knox College resolved to abolish their Hebrew Chair, and in this way Mr Rintoul was again free to accept of a call to a pastoral charge. The Rev. Thomas Henry, of Lachute, having declined the call tendered to him by the St. Gabriel Street congregation in March, 1850, the attention of the people was drawn to Mr. Rintoul, and a unanimous call was addressed to him on the 3rd of July, 1850, and as he was present and signified his acceptance of it, he was inducted to the charge on the same day. The Rev. J. C. Fairbairn of Allanton, Scotland, then supplying Cote Street Church, preached. So crying were the necessities of the situation that the Presbytery felt they were justified in dispensing with the usual somewhat tardy preliminary steps. A protest was served on the congregation by Mr. Gordon Mack, as in the case of Mr. Leishman. The settlement of Mr. Rintoul was full of promise. The congregation felt that they had secured the services of a strong man, a man of mark and experience in the country, and they were able to indulge in sighs of relief that at last they seemed getting out of deep water. The faint-hearted acquired new courage, and the resolute now became confident. But while man proposes, God disposes. Scarcely had his ministry begun to make itself felt here, and the congregation to rally to the old church, when he was suddenly cut down by that fell disease—cholera. But he died in harness. He was about his Master's business at the time, prosecuting, with characteristic zeal and eagerness, missionary work on the lower St. Lawrence. He was sent by the Presbytery to visit the congregation of Metis, which at the time was without a pastor. He had got as far as Trois Pistoles

when he was struck with the illness which proved fatal on the 13th of September, 1851. This was a serious blow not only to the prospects of his own congregation, but also to those of the church to which he belonged, in this Province. His judgment was such as to inspire confidence in all with whom he came into contact. He was also a man of deep personal piety, as well as of exemplary pastoral fidelity. Mr. Rintoul wielded a facile and vigorous pen, and amongst other good services rendered by him to the church was editing for two years the Ecclesiastical and Missionary Record of the Presbyterian Church of Canada; and he well merited the eulogium passed upon him by Rev. Dr. Burns who preached his funeral sermon on the 28th Sept. 1851, as well as the appreciative minute which the Presbytery passed at their first meeting after his death: "The Presbytery in consideration of the heavy loss they have sustained in the lamented death of the Rev. Wm. Rintoul, late minister of St. Gabriel Street Church, do most readily avail themselves of this opportunity to record the high sense which they entertain of the many virtues and excellencies which adorned his character, both as a man and a Christian minister. While none were more exemplary in the relations in which he stood to his fellowmen or more amiable in the intercourse of private life, few equalled and none surpassed him in the diligent and conscientious discharge of the duties connected with the pastoral office; and as a member of Presbytery his services were invaluable. During his short residence in Montreal, he secured to himself the love and esteem of men of all classes among his fellow citizens." Dr. McLagan, surgeon to the 20th Regiment, then stationed in Montreal, an elder of the church, proceeded with Mr. Rintoul's son, David, to Trois Pistoles, as soon as word reached Montreal of Mr. Rintoul's illness. He afterwards communicated to the